Today is the Super Duper Blue Red Full Eclipse Partial Eclipse Moon, depending on where you may be viewing from.

Three years ago this day was my last day of working and I retired after 46 years of full-time work. I've enjoyed every single moment of my retirement since then - three years and hoping for twenty more, we'll see how things go...

February and March can be cruel months in southeastern Wisconsin where I live. January itself was nutso here weather-wise, with two separate thaws. I don't ever remember getting two January thaws before, and many years none happened at all.

Before I know it I'll be headed to Las Vegas to visit my friends and celebrate some sunshine and warm weather, and see a show (I always try to squeeze one in). Meanwhile, I am continuing, slowly, to make this smaller retirement ranch into a home that makes me smile in every room. I still have lots to do, including major painting projects. I keep putting them off. Seems at 66 I'm not so keen on painting as I was at 36. Gee, I wonder why...

Jan

Friday, August 12, 2016

It has been very hot and steamy here in my neck of SE Wisconsin the past week and I can only stand to work outdoors for so long before I have to run back inside to central AC. You know you're getting old(er) when you feel like you can no longer survive the summers without it, geez!

But I finished the table, woo woo! It took several coats of paint applied over several days, but I'm proud to say patience and waiting for each coat to dry thoroughly in the high humidity air paid off, for I've no runs or drips, which has to be a first for moi.

Inspiration tables:

The subject, before.

Coating with primer inside hot garage.

Finished product! Three plus coats (2 cans) yellow spray
paint over 2 coats of primer to give me the glossy look
I wanted (sheds water really well, tested out last night
in a rain storm). I added the little wheels so I can roll
the table wherever I need it and they've stayed on!

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Hola! I've been scouting around the internet recently looking for inexpensive ideas to add some pizzazz to my patio and Shezebo. I've come across some creative and easy (love easy) ideas:

In My Own Style showed me How To Make Inexpensive Wall Art using weather-resistant outdoor table cloths, foam, frames and a staple gun. Gave me plenty of inspiration to wrap some colorful material (non-dye running material after my experience with the effects of a rain storm on my Indian table runner) around some foam board to mount on the side of my house with Command strips.

Credit: Website, above, In My Own Style, Diane Henkler, May 30, 2012.

I'm absolutely obsessed with this idea from Ciera Design Studio, Backyard Tin Can Fence Garden, as I have a large expanse of fence facing the concrete patio that could use a little dressing up:

Ciera screwed her painted tin can planters directly to her wood fence, the easiest and most stable way to hang them, I'm thinking. But I can also envision, for the crafty (not me, I'm not crafty at all), a series of different lengths of macrome'd pockets looped over the top pickets (or otherwise fastened to the fence) to hold the colorful painted tin cans

And, how about this for totally "on" the wall decor to appreciate at night:

Great Explorations Glow-in-the-Dark Star Explosion (Kohls, about $23 for 725 pieces, including sticky putty). When I moved into the present Maison Newton (my retirement home), the two kids' rooms had these on their ceilings. I did NOT take them down and toss them out. I kept some up on the ceiling in the guest room, but removed them from the ceiling in my would-be den/library; however, I used several to decorate around the crown of my campaign-style poster bed (they help lull me to sleep as I catch glimpses of them subtly glowing in the dark), and I saved the rest. I just dug them out! I'll clean off some spots on my Shezebo frame, stick them up, and try them out. If they work, I'll buy a box and go to down. What girl doesn't like a little Moonglow and Starlight in her life?

I just realized that I never switched out my header from Christmas 2015, geez. Well, a lot happened in between then and now, and blogging, frankly, has been non-existent or low priority until fairly recently.

Things are starting to get back to what passes for normal around here, so I will fix that - but the outside is calling...

Here are some photos of how my Shezebo looked on Saturday July 30 (after install) and Sunday July 31, with some furniture and accessories in it:

These are not the new lounge/stationary rocker chairs I purchased from Home Depot a few weeks back, they have yet to be assembled, they are old patio chairs I had at the former Maison Newton before I downsized to this current home in July 2014. The andirondack chair is wood and has a lovely shabby chic look, 100% natural due to the paint wearing off after several seasons out in the weather. I love that chair! The tall back chair is plastic and the back adjusts backward/forward. The tall back allows you to rest your head comfortably and it is perfect when you put your feet up to take a snooze on a long hot summer afternoon, especially now since I won't have to worry about a bug flying into my mouth while I'm sleeping inside my Shezebo :)

The chairs are now adorned with the cushions I purchased on sale from Home Decorators online (prior post for pics/details). Like so many other things in my life, I waited far too long to enjoy the luxury of such cushions. They are sooooo comfortable I just melt whenever I sit in one of the chairs. I alternate sitting between them :)

They sit upon the primarily yellow textured indoor/outdoor rug I also purchased on sale at Home Decorators (prior post, Wharf area rug, for pic details).

There is a small white plastic side table that I've had for years, I don't remember where I bought it (maybe Menards one summer), a taller burnished metal side table next to the andirondack chair (purchased as part of a duo of tables at Menards many moons ago), and a bright turquoise plant stand topped by a large squirrel-decorated planter, both birthday gifts over the years from my buddy Ann. They sometimes made appearances on the rickety old floating deck at the former Maison Newton. Now the colors blend perfectly with what I've got going on, so happy to be able to put them on prominent Shezebo display.

Well, I know I didn't take any close-ups or take photos inside the Shezebo, so you really can't appreciate the details, but these show the general idea.

The footstool (one of two) is part of my purchase from Home Depot and has peacock/brown colored slipcovered cushions. You can see a closer view of the upholstery here.

Okay, so since then, I came across some curtains at the Family Dollar store that had great colors in them, but I only bought two panels ($10 each) and decided I need to add a third, so I haven't taken any pics yet.

I also put up, and after a rain storm and blue dye all over the place, took down, a beautiful hand-embroidered glitzy Indian runner that I'd had pinned up across the top of one side of the Shezebo, because of its brilliant turquoise color. I let it hang long enough to dry out the next day and the blue dye hosed off, fortunately. I'm not sure if I will re-hang it, but if I do I will be sure to take it down whenever rain is threatened.

So that's it for now. I gave the coffee table I'm going to put on casters and use in the Shezebo two coats of primer on Thursday; yesterday she got a coat of yellow paint on the frame I can reach from the outside; this morning, she got a coat of yellow paint on the frame I can reach by flipping her upside down. I see where I missed a number of spots despite having the lights on in the garage and despite wearing my glasses. Damn! So I will recoat later today and then apply a second and - I hope - final coat of yellow early tomorrow a.m. after flipping the table back to its upside. Then the adventure will begin of installing the casters, LOL.

2017 Christmas Tree

2016 Christmas Tree

2014 Christmas Mantle/Mantel

2014 Front Porch

About Me

I'm one of the founders of Goddesschess, which went online May 6, 1999. I earned an under-graduate degree in history and economics going to college part-time nights, weekends and summer school while working full-time, and went on to earn a post-graduate degree (J.D.) I love the challenge of research, and spend my spare time reading and writing about my favorite subjects, travelling and working in my gardens. My family and my friends are most important in my life. For the second half of my life, I'm focusing on "doable" things to help local chess initiatives, starting in my own home town. And I'm experiencing a sort of personal "Renaissance" that is leaving me rather breathless...